teaching reporter

8/8/2019 Teaching Reporter

1/62


2/62


3/62

Facing History and Ourselves is an international educational and proessional development orga-

nization whose mission is to engage students o diverse backgrounds in an examination o

racism, prejudice, and antisemitism in order to promote the development o a more humane and

inormed citizenry. By studying the historical development o the Holocaust and other examples o

genocide, students make the essential connection between history and the moral choices they conront

in their own lives. For more inormation about Facing History and Ourselves, please visit our websiteat www.acinghistory.org.

Copyright 2010 by Facing History and Ourselves National Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved.

Facing History and Ourselves is a trademark registered in the US Patent & Trademark Oce.

Cover photos courtesy o Will Okun (www.wjzo.com).

To order classroom copies, please ax a purchase order to 617-232-0281 or call 1-800-856-9039 to place

a phone order.

To receive additional copies o this resource, please visit reporter.acinghistory.org.

ISBN-13: 978-0-9819543-5-6

Facing History and Ourselves Headquarters

16 Hurd Road

Brookline, MA 02445-6919


4/62

ABOUT FACING HISTORY AND OURSELVES

Facing History and Ourselves is a nonprot educational organization whose mission is to engage students o

diverse backgrounds in an examination o racism, prejudice, and antisemitism in order to promote a more humane

and inormed citizenry. As the name Facing History and Ourselves implies, the organization helps teachers and

their students make the essential connections between history and the moral choices they conront in their own

lives, and oers a ramework and a vocabulary or analyzing the meaning and responsibility o citizenship andthe tools to recognize bigotry and indierence in their own worlds. Through a rigorous examination o the ailure

o democracy in Germany during the 1920s and 30s and the steps leading to the Holocaust, along with other

examples o hatred, collective violence, and genocide in the past century, Facing History and Ourselves provides

educators with tools or teaching history and ethics, and or helping their students learn to combat prejudice with

compassion, indierence with participation, myth and misinormation with knowledge.

Believing that no classroom exists in isolation, Facing History and Ourselves oers programs and materials to

a broad audience o students, parents, teachers, civic leaders, and all o those who play a role in the education o

young people. Through signicant higher education partnerships, Facing History and Ourselves also reaches and

impacts teachers beore they enter their classrooms.

By studying the choices that led to critical episodes in history, students learn how issues o identity and mem-

bership, ethics and judgment have meaning today and in the uture. Facing History and Ourselves resourcebooks provide a meticulously researched yet fexible structure or examining complex events and ideas. Educa-

tors can select appropriate readings and draw on additional resources avai lable online or rom our comprehen-

sive lending library.

Our oundational resource book, Facing History and Ourselves: Holocaust and Human Behavior, embodies a

sequence o study that begins with identityrst individual identity and then group and national identities, with

their denitions o membership. From there the program examines the ailure o democracy in Germany and the

steps leading to the Holocaustthe most documented case o twentieth-century indierence, de-humanization,

hatred, racism, antisemitism, and mass murder. It goes on to explore dicult questions o judgment, memory,

and legacy, and the necessity or responsible participation to prevent injustice. Facing History and Ourselves then

returns to the theme o civic participation to examine stories o individuals, groups, and nations who have worked

to build just and inclusive communities and whose stories illuminate the courage, compassion, and political will

that are needed to protect democracy today and in generations to come. Other examples in which civic dilemmas

test democracy, such as the Armenian Genocide and the US civil rights movement, expand and deepen the con-

nection between history and the choices we ace today and in the uture.

Facing History and Ourselves has oces or resource centers in the United States, Canada, and the United

Kingdom as well as in-depth partnerships in Rwanda, South Ar ica, and Northern Ireland. Facing History and

Ourselves outreach is global, with educators trained in more than 80 countries and delivery o our resources

through a website accessed worldwide with online content delivery, a program or international ellows, and a

set o NGO partnerships. By convening conerences o scholars, theologians, educators, and journalists, Facing

History and Ourselves materials are kept timely, relevant, and responsive to salient issues o global citizenship

in the twenty-rst century.

For more than 30 years, Facing History and Ourselves has challenged students and educators to connect the

complexities o the past to the moral and ethical issues o today. They explore democratic values and consider

what it means to exercise ones rights and responsibilities in the service o a more humane and compassionate

world. They become aware that little things are bigseemingly minor decisions can have a major impact and

change the course o history.

For more about Facing History and Ourselves, visit our website at www.acinghistory.org.


5/62

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Primary writer: Elisabeth Fieldstone Kanner

Facing History and Ourselves extends much gratitude to the many individuals and groups whose

thoughtul conversations, committed partnerships, and generous support made this project possible.We thank the Fledgling Fund or its generous support or the development o this study guide. Special

recognition goes to Nicholas Kristo and Reporterlmmakers Eric Daniel Metzgar and Mikaela Beard-

sley or making an important, engaging lm and or their contributions to this study guide.

We would also like to recognize our sta and others who contributed to the creation o this study guide:

Our editorial team, Pamela Donaldson, Tanya Huellet, Mark Davis, Deb Chad, Adam Strom, Marc

Skvirsky, Marty Sleeper, Dimitry Anselme, and Margot Stern Strom, reviewed numerous iterations

o the manuscript. Rebecca Hamilton continues to be a wonderul riend to Facing History, sharing

with us her experience as a reporter and an anti-genocide activist. Elisabeth Fieldstone Kanner synthe-

sized comments rom many sources to create this valuable study guide. April Lambert and Catherine

OKeee oversaw the production o this study guide with wisdom, energy, and eciency. Emma Smizikand Ronnie Millar coordinated our work, and our research intern Hilary Walker devoted countless

hours to the project. We would also like to thank Sara Arnold or her copyediting, Tom Beckham or his

work designing this guide, and Will Okun or supporting us in many aspects o this project, including

graciously permitting us to use his photography throughout the guide.


6/62

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FiLm SyNOpSiS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

RATiONALE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

SuggESTiONS FOR uSiNg ThiS STudy guidE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

iNTROduCiNg RepoRteR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Pre-Viewing Reading 1: Letter to Students from Nicholas Kristof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Pre-Viewing Reading 2: Leana Wens Winning Essay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Pre-Viewing Reading 3: Will Okuns Winning Essay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

ViEwiNg guidE FOR RepoRteR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Pre-Viewing Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Viewing Questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Post-Viewing Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

iNVESTigATiON ONE:Why dont people act? Confronting psychic numbing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Reading 1: Save the Darfur Puppy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Reading 2: Psychic Numbing and Genocide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

iNVESTigATiON TwO:Should reporters advocate? Exploring the role of journalists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Reading 3: A Student, a Teacher and a Glimpse of War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Reading 4: On the Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

iNVESTigATiON ThREE:What do we learn from the news? How reporters choices

shape our understanding of the world . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Reading 5: Dinner with a Warlord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Reading 6: Killing in the Name of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Reading 7: Fear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Reading 8: 3-Way Battles Again Jolt Eastern Congo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Reading 9: Images of Congo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

iNVESTigATiON FOuR:What can we do to help? Education and action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Reading 10:What Can We Do to Help? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

wEB RESOuRCES FOR RepoRteR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50


7/62

The documentary Reporterfollows columnist Nicholas Kristof on a reporting trip to Rwanda, Burundi, and the DemocraticRepublic of Congo (DRC). The DRC, formerly Zaire, is often referred to as Congo, and should not confused with the Republicof Congo, its neighbor to the west. The lm also makes references to Kristofs work in Darfur, a western region in Sudan.

Darfur

CourtesyofPeaceCorp

sWorldWiseSchools.


8/62

RepoRteR: FiLm SyNOpSiS

Directed, edited, and photographed by Eric Daniel Metzgar

Produced by Mikaela Beardsley and Steven Cantor

Executive Producer: Ben AfeckRunning time: 90 minutes

Reporteris a eature documentary about Nicholas Kristo, a two-time Pulitzer Prizewinning colum-

nist or the New York Times. In the summer o 2007, Kristo traveled to the Democratic Republic o

Congo to shine his light into the darkest pockets o confict and poverty. Congo is a country in the

midst o a humanitarian crisis. To date, 5.4 million people have been killed in Congo over the last

decade. Kristos charge is to put Congo on the international agenda. To help attract a broader audi-

ence, Kristo invited a college student and a teacherwinners o the 2007 Win a Trip with Nick

contestto join him on this reporting trip to central Arica.

Reportergives us access to the dilemmas Kristo conronts as a journalist who has an agenda: to get hisaudience to care and take action. Kristo knows that statistics deaden his readers interest and compas-

sion. To get the world to care, he goes in search o individuals whose stories will refect the countrys

desperate crisis, including a dying woman, a rebel militia leader, and a child soldier.

From left to right: photographer and teacher Will Okun, medical student Leana Wen, New York Times colum-nist Nick Kristof, and lmmaker Eric Daniel Metzgar.

CourtesyofWillOkun(www.w

jzo.c

om).

film synopsis


9/62

TEACHinGREPORTER

RATiONALE

In the documentary Reporter, we ollow New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristo as he works to get

his readers to care about what happens on the other side o the hill. We see how he uses social sci-

ence research and the tools o journalism to try to expand his readers universe o responsibilitythepeople whom they eel obligated to care or and protect. We watch him struggle with dilemmas: How

can he inorm people about the larger context o genocide and other humanitarian disasters without

numbing his readers sense o compassion? As a print journalist, how can he adapt to the changing

landscape o web-based media? What is the relationship between journalism and advocacy?

For over thirty years, Facing History and Ourselves has asked the same questions that underlie

Kristos work: Under what conditions do people care about others? When does that care translate

into thoughtul action? What are the responsibilities o citizens to participate in their communities

local, national, and global? How can inormation be used and abused? By raising questions about the

role o the reporter and the responsibility o the citizen, this documentary supports Facing Historys

mission to encourage students, educators, andcommunity members to refect on the types o

civic engagement required by a vibrant democracy.

While Kristo uses the tools o journalism, Facing

History uses the tools o history and the humani-

ties to help students, educators, and community

members understand the conditions that encour-

age us to act (or to stand by) in the ace o injus-

tice, hatred, and mass violence. The resources we

publish and the proessional development Facing

History provides ollow a sequence o studywhat

Facing History calls its scope and sequencethathelps us wrestle with questions o identity, mem-

bership, decision-making, justice, and civic par-

ticipation.*

This documentary aligns with Facing Historys scope and sequence by contributing to the study o

history. For example, when investigating examples o injustice, such as the Holocaust or apartheid-era

South Arica, students oten ask, How could this have happened? Watching Reporterprovides us with

tools we can use to conront this question, such as social science research explaining the psychology

o compassion. By raising questions about the role o the media to intervene in stopping the geno-

cide in Darur or preventing violence against women in the Democratic Republic o Congo **, Reporter

* To learn more about Facing Historys approach, reer to the preace and introduction in the resource book Facing History and

Ourselves: Holocaust and Human Behavior(http://www.acinghistory.org/resources/hhb).

** The Democratic Republic o Congo (DRC), ormerly Zaire, is oten reerred to as Congo by Nicholas Kristo and by other char-

acters in Reporter. To maintain consistency, in this guide we also reer to the DRC as Congo. To avoid conusing the DRC with the

Republic o Congo, its neighbor to the west, we suggest reviewing a map o A rica, such as the one at the beginning o this guide,

which clearly dierentiates between these two nations.


10/62

invites us to consider the role o the press during times throughout history when human rights have

been abused.

Reporter also contributes to the nal stage o Facing Historys scope and sequencechoosing to

participatewhich ocuses on stories o individuals and groups who have tried to make a positive

impact on society. By studying these examples, we begin to answer the question, What actors encour-age us to take a stand on behal o ourselves and others? Investigation One o this study guide

explores how Kristo conronts this question in Reporteras he struggles to get his readers to care about

the genocide in Darur and the humanitarian crisis in Congo.*

Is it the role o the reporter to inspire people to care? Should journalists try to guide their readers

toward particular actions? Or is the reporters job limited to providing accurate inormation? Investi-

gation Two examines these questions. Kristo believes in the power o journalism to galvanize people

to solve the worlds problems. For example, he has worked tirelessly to bring attention to the genocide

in Darur. In Reporter, we hear actress and activist Mia Farrow** explain, It was Nick [who] sounded

the clarion call. That there was a genocide unolding in a place called Darur. . . . It was through read-

ing Nicks columns that I [gained] knowledge o a situation in a place I never heard o. SamanthaPower, author oA Problem rom Hell: America and the Age o Genocide , describes Kristos eorts as

relentless:

He would nd a hundred dierent angles into the same subject, but the central message was

consistent and, in its own way, repetitive. Genocide is happening and youre not doing enough

to stop it. Moreover, you have the power to stop it, and that makes you doubly responsible.1

For his work writing about the genocide in Darur, Kristo was awarded a Pulitzer Prize. While much

o his work ocuses on problems acing people in Asia and Arica, in his column he also draws atten-

tion to domestic issues, including heath care, poverty, and education. Most recently, Kristo and his

wie, journalist Sheryl WuDunn, wrote a book about the plight o women around the world called Halthe Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity or Women Worldwide. According to Kristo, they wrote

Hal the Sky not so much to inorm people as because we wanted to shake people up and help address

these issues.2

Nicholas Kristo ollows a long line o journalists who have used their role to advocate or action

and change. For decades, Ida B. Wells used journalism as a weapon against racial bigotry.3 While

* Decades beore Kristos outrage over the international communitys inability to stop the genocide in Darur, Raphael Lemkin

expressed outrage over the worlds response, or lack thereo, to the Armenian genocide during World War I. Lemkins rustration led

him to coin the term genocide. For more inormation about the meaning o genocide and Lemkins struggle to have this concept

recognized in international law, reer to our study guide Totally Unoicial: Raphael Le mkin and the Genocide Convention

(http://www.acinghistory.org/resources/publications/lemkin).

** Mia Farrow has been a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador since 2000. In 2008, Time magazine named her one o the mostinluential people in the world, highlighting her work to end the genocide in Darur.

The website http://www.haltheskymovement.org, a companion to the book Hal the Sky, provides inormation about women aroundthe world and what can be done to improve their situations or the beneit o all.

Chapter 2, The Promise o American Democracy, in the irst edition oFacing History and Ourselves: Choosing to Participate

(http://www.acinghistory.org/resources/publications/acing-history-choosing-participate) includes a case study on Ida B. Wells.

rATionAlE


11/62

TEACHinGREPORTER

best known or her articles exposing the injustices o lynching, she also wrote against Jim Crow

segregation and in support o womens surage. During World War I, journalists accounts o the

mass murder o Armenians rallied the public to pressure their governments to intervene and stop

the abuses. Americans reacted to these reports o suering Armenians with one o the largest

humanitarian responses in the history o the United States.4 Throughout the civil rights movement,

some journalists recognized the role that the press had in urthering the cause against racial dis-crimination and even risked their lives to report on the civil rights struggle. 5

During the civil rights movement, the press meant newspapers, magazines, and television. In the

Internet age, the media world is ar more complicated. Kristo and others reer to this changing media

landscape throughout Reporter. For anyone with a cell phone or a computer, technology presents excit-

ing opportunities to disseminate their ideas to a public audience. As a result, never beore have we

had as much access to inormation rom so many sources. Acknowledging that we are living in the

most inormed o times, scholar Vartan Gregorian* wonders, How can all o this knowledge add up

to real understanding?6 Today, comprehending the words on the page or in a broadcast is no longer

sucient; we need to be able interpret media with regard to the purpose and perspective o its creators.

Investigation Three o this study guide includes six dierent accounts o Congo published around thesame time. Comparing these texts gives us the opportunity to practice the media literacy skills that

Proessor Pat Auderheide says are a basic tool or citizenship in an Inormation Society.7

The people must know before they can act . . .

Ida B. Wells

Ultimately, the consequences o reporting are decided not by the journalists but by the audience. Ida B.

Wells wrote hundreds o articles about lynching, but this dreadul practice continued well beyond her

death. Kristo wrote dozens o columns about Darur, yet over a million Daruris are living in reugee

camps, unable to return to their homes. Why is this? Eric Metzgar, the director o Reporter, providesone answer: Nick won his second Pulitzer Prize or helping to put the Darur crisis on the interna-

tional radar. But the violence continues because its not enough or the public to simply know about a

calamity; we have to care.8 And or change to take place, we also have to act based on that caring.

But is it the reporters role to tell us how to act? No, it is not, according to Metzgar. He argues:

In terms o human rights issues, I dont believe in this kind o obedient action-taking, i you

will. . . . I you need to be told what to do, I dont think that that equals the sustained compassion

that is required or us to really take on these issues. You know, i you really want to know what to

do, [it] takes ve seconds to put Congo crisis help into a Google search engine and then youre

o. There are a million things you can do. I I tell you one thing that I would do, that directs

everyone down one path. You know, you have to gure out what moves you the most and take

your own path.9

* Vartan Gregorian has spent his lie advancing the use o knowledge or human progress and public service. Prior to assuming

his current role as president o the Carnegie Corporation o New York, he worked in universities around the country as a proessor,

dean, provost, and president. He was also president o the New York Public Library.


12/62

Once you have identied what moves you the most, what can you do to help? In particular, how can

medianew and oldbe used as a tool to prevent injustice and violence, and also as a tool to encour-

age people to respond when children, women, and men are suering? This is the question explored in

Investigation Four o this study guide.

Watching Reporter and using the materials in this study guide encourage us to consider how thechanging landscape o journalism expands and complicates our role as creators and consumers o the

news. We live in a time when technology gives each o us the opportunity to serve as reporter. What

opportunities and challenges does the democratization o media present? How will our choices as

consumers o media shape our understanding o the world? How will our choices as creators o media

shape our communities, near and ar?

1. Reporter, (00:12:25).

2. Kristi Heim, Hal the Sky: Q&A with Nicholas Kristo, The Seattle Times, October 9, 2009, http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/

html/thebusinessogiving/2010032989_questions_or_nicholas_kristo.html.

3. Pamela Newkirk, Ida B. Wells-Barnett: Journalism as a Weapon Against Racial Bigotry, Media Studies Journal 14 (Spring/Summer 2000), accessed August 13, 2010, http://www.hartord-hwp.com/archives/45a/317.html.

4. Facing History and Ourselves, Crime Against Humanity: The Genocide o the Armenians (Brookline, MA: Facing History and

Ourselves National Foundation, Inc., 2004), 134141.

5. Jack Nelson, T he Civil Rights Movement: A Press Perspective, Human Rights Magazine (Fall 2001), http://www.abanet.org/irr/hr/

all01/nelson.html.

6. Vartan Gregorian, oreword in Public Scholarship: A New Perspective or the 21st Centur y, a report by the Carnegie Corporation o

New York (2004), 5.

7. Media Literacy Denitions & Quotes, http://www.rankwbaker.com/Media_Lit_Quotes.html.

8. Transcript: Caring About Congo, NOW on PBS, February 12, 2010, http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/607/transcript.html.

9. Ibid.

rATionAlE


13/62

TEACHinGREPORTER

SuggESTiONS FOR uSiNg ThiS

STudy guidE

This study guide has been designed to be used with the documentary Reporter, produced by Stick Fig-ure Productions. There are many ways to engage with the lm and the materials in this study guide.

Some teachers will show the entire 90-minute documentary and have students explore one or more

o the investigations included in this guide. Other classrooms might watch an excerpt rom Reporter

and ocus on one or two questions rom the Viewing Guide. Regardless o how students explore these

materials, we recommend ollowing a similar path:

1. Prepare students to view Reporter: Beore viewing all or part oReporter, prepare students or the

ideas and themes they are about to explore. You might have students write about and/or discuss one

o the Pre-Viewing Questions in the Viewing Guide. Or, to help students think about the purpose or

making (and watching) Reporter, you could have them read the letter rom Nicholas Kristo or excepts

rom Leana Wen and Will Okuns Win a Trip with Nick winning essays (see pages 910). On page 50,we have included links to resources that describe the humanitarian conficts reerred to in the lm

civil war in Congo and the genocide in Darur. Prior to watching Reporter, reviewing the background

or these conficts can increase students engagement and comprehension o this material. Additional

pre-viewing lesson ideas can be ound on our Reporterwebsite (reporter.acinghistory.org).

2. View all or part oReporter: While watching the lm, we suggest pausing at key moments to clariy

understanding and to give students the opportunity to respond in writing or discussion to what they

have viewed. For ideas on when you might stop the lm, consult the Viewing Guide. It includes time

codes or suggested pause moments related to specic questions about themes raised in this lm. I

you only have time to show a part oReporter, reviewing the investigation overviews can help you select

lm excerpts that address themes and questions most appropriate or your learning objectives.

3. Reect on questions and ideas raised in Reporter: Listening to students reactionsnoting their

interests, questions, and misconceptionswill inorm your decisions about how to debrie ater

their viewing oReporter. Exploring one or more o the investigations is a useul post-viewing exer-

cise. The lesson ideas on the Reporterwebsite (reporter.acinghistory.org) suggest dierent ways to use

the readings in the investigations to deepen students understanding o the ideas addressed in

the lm. The lesson ideas also recommend projects and assignments that can be used to evaluate

students learning.


14/62

Educational resources in the study guide

@ Pre-Viewing Readings: To prepare students to view all or part o Reporter, we have included

three readings that introduce students to the main characters in the documentary: Nicholas

Kristo, Leana Wen, and Will Okun. Their writings oreshadow many o the important themesand questions raised by the ilm.

@ Viewing Guide: The Viewing Guide includes Pre-Viewing Questions, Viewing Questions, and

Post-Viewing Questions. These questions explore the ilms speciic content as it relates to uni-

versal themes such as empathy, social responsibility, and perspective-taking. They can be used

to acilitate large- and small-group discussions, prompt relective writing, develop projects, and

evaluate student understanding. Questions are labeled with time codes rom the ilm to allow

you to select speciic moments on which to ocus.

@ Investigations: To deepen students understanding o key themes in the ilm, ten supplemen-

tary readings have been included in this study guide. Readings are organized into our investi-

gations that correspond to speciic excerpts and themes rom the ilm. (Reer to the table o con-

tents or a list o readings by investigation.) Each investigation includes the ollowing parts: Overviews: Overviews rame the readings and explain how they connect to an excerpt o

the ilm.

Readings: Many o the readings included in the study guideeditorials, blog entries, and

photographswere created by Nicholas Kristo, Leana Wen, and Will Okun while they

were on the trip that is the subject o this documentary. We have also identiied additional

readings, such as an excerpt rom Paul Slovics study on psychic numbing, to give students

an opportunity to urther explore ideas presented in Reporter. We strongly recommend that

you preview readings to judge i the content and reading level are appropriate or your stu-

dents. Acknowledging that some readings may be challenging or students, on our website

we have posted teaching strategies aimed at helping students comprehend and interpret

challenging text (www.acinghistory.org/teachingstrategies). Connections: Ater the readings, you will ind a collection o questions selected to help clariy

and deepen students understanding o themes raised in each investigation. They bring up

points o view that are not represented in the readings and provide opportunities or stu-

dents to connect the ideas in the texts to their own experiences. Teachers oten select one or

two questions as the ocus or class discussion, journal writing, or an assessment activity.

Sometimes teachers allow students to write about or discuss the question most interesting

to them.

@ Web Resources orReporter: We have identiied helpul online resources that provide back-

ground on events in the Democratic Republic o Congo and Darur. We also suggest websites

that provide inormation about Nicholas Kristo, journalism, and writing a news story. As a

pre-viewing resource, inormation rom these links provides students with context to help them

understand the material in the ilm. As a post-viewing resource, inormation rom these sites

can help students continue their exploration o questions and themes raised in the ilm.

In addition to these resources, Facing History has developed a website, reporter.acinghistory.org, that

includes streaming video, lesson ideas, and other educational materials or Reporter.

sUGGEsTions for UsinG THis sTUDy GUiDE


15/62

TEACHinGREPORTER

iNTROduCiNg RepoRteR:

pRE-ViEwiNg REAdiNgS

The following readings help prepare students to watch Reporter and explore the materials in thisstudy guide.

Pre-Viewing Reading 1: Letter to Students from Nicholas Kristof

The lm Reporter ollows New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristo on a reporting trip to central

Arica. Facing History asked Kristo what he hoped students would learn rom watching Reporter, and

he responded with the ollowing letter. What message do you take away rom this letter? What does

this note reveal about Kristos goals as a journalist? How would you respond to him?

Dear student,

Watching Reporter and reading materials from its study guide, you probably wont want to

come to dinner with meat least not if a warlord is joining us. But I hope youll be nour-

ished, if not by a meal together, at least by the ideas

in here. Frankly, these are tough issues for high-school

students, or for people of any age, and some read-

ers might think that they are more appropriate only for

university students. War, genocide and rape are evilswe naturally turn away from. But I hope you will not

only recognize the horrors of these conicts, but also

appreciate that they are not inevitable. We can make

a difference, we can chip away at these kinds of out-

rages, and we can as a result make this a somewhat

better world. And since these brutalities are happen-

ing to kids your age, and those much youngeroften

by perpetrators who are also your age or youngerits

hard to argue that they are irrelevant to your age group.

So welcome to this journey, and I invite you to feel not

only outrage but also a sense that you can give voiceto the voiceless.

Nicholas Kristof

Nicholas Kristof, two-time Pulitzer Prizewinner and New York Times columnistsince 2001, has written extensively abouthuman rights abuses across the world,from Darfur to Indonesia.


jzo.c

om).


16/62

Win a Trip With Nick Winning Essays (April 29, 2007)

In 2007, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristo invited teachers and college students to apply to

Win a Trip with Nick. Medical student Leana Wen and Chicago teacher Will Okun wrote the winning

essays that gave them the opportunity to join Kristo on a reporting trip to central Arica that summer.

Reportertells the story o their trip. Below, we have included excerpts rom Wen and Okuns winningessays. What do these texts reveal about the winners reasons or taking this trip? Why do you think

Kristo asked a teacher and a college student to join him?

Pre-Viewing Reading 2: Leana Wens Winning Essay1 (excerpt)

If we just looked for them, we can nd injustices every-

where. Hurricane Katrina exposed Americans to abject

poverty and health disparities right in our backyard. Many

more injustices exist over there, in developing nations,that result in millions of preventable deaths and lifetimes of

wasted talent and squandered opportunity. I want to ght

these injustices and change the world.

My upbringing exposed me to injustices rsthand. Raised

in a dissident family in China, I came to the US on politi-

cal asylum after the Tiananmen Square massacre. We were

outsiders in a Communist regime and remained outsiders in

predominantly Mormon Utah and then inner-city Los Angeles.

Though Shanghai, Logan, and Compton have little else in

common, they all bear witness to the differences between

the haves and have-nots, and I grew up keenly aware of the

impact of political, cultural, and socioeconomic oppression.

As a child with life-threatening asthma and debilitating speech impediment, I also confronted

the stigma of disability and the challenges of seeking health care with limited resources.

Yet the mechanisms to address injustices eluded me. I thought that becoming a doctor

would allow me to help those most in need; however, I witnessed more problems than

found solutions that had sustainable rather than short-term impact. . . . Pills might help the

individual patients at that point in their lives, but [that] does not resolve the root causes of

their problems.

Global change requires more than pills and individual-level change: it hinges on concertededucation and mobilization. . . . It is to learn communication to the public as a method

of effecting change that I apply for this opportunity. . . . Treating a patients problems and

moving on to the next ailment is not enough, and I want instead to convey my patients

stories and describe their communities struggles. I want to solve global problems by educat-

ing and motivating the public to action. I want to learn these tools from you.

Since graduating from medicalschool, Leana Wen has prac-ticed emergency medicine in theUnited States and traveled around

the world speaking about globalhealth issues.


jzo.c

om).

inTroDUCinG REPORTER


17/62

TEACHinGREPORTER0


jzo.c

om).

Pre-Viewing Reading 3: Will Okuns Winning Essay2 (excerpt)

Nearly every day after school, I go to students

houses to shoot photographs of the studentswith their families and friends. Since our

school, Westside Alternative High School,

is located in one of the lowest-income com-

munities of Chicago, there is ample opportu-

nity to photograph the poverty which seem-

ingly envelops their lives. . . . But I do not

take these pictures. These pictures have

already been taken. Book after book, exhibit

upon exhibit depict only the poverty and

misery of the current black community in

America. Unless you happen to live or work

in a black community, it is likely that blacks

are perceived by the majority of America as either extremely poor and sad (from the media

and photographs) or extremely materialist ic and gangsta (from rap music and videos).

Instead, I seek to capture the happiness and joy that can occur in everyday moments and

the beauty that exists within every person, regardless of their income. Most importantly, I

try to produce unique portraits that capture the essence of each person. Secondly, I want

the people to be happy with their own photographs. Nothing gives me greater satisfaction

than going into a students house and seeing my framed pictures on the walls. Lastly, I

hope my photographs offer another perspective of black American teenagers that is largely

inaccessible to the general public. (My photographs are posted on my www.wjzo.com website,which receives over 30,000 views a week from all over the world.)

This is the perspective I will bring to Africa with Nick Kristof. While America is only pre-

sented with images representative of Africas poverty and misery, I will seek stories and

photographs that will offer our young people a more comprehensive depiction of African

people and culture. I hope my photographs and stories will present young Africans with

an opportunity to educate, communicate with, and relate to young Americans. In addition,

I hope to produce photographs and stories that will emote pleasure and pride from the

Africans themselves.

1. Leana Wen, Winning Essay: Leana Wen, New York Times, April 29, 2007, accessed September 19, 2010,

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/29/opinion/29wat-wen.html.

2. Will Okun, Winning Essay: Will Okun, New York Times, April 29, 2007, accessed September 19, 2010,

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/29/opinion/29wat-okun.html.

Will Okun taught English and photography for nineyears at Westside Alternative High School in Chicago.His photography website, www.wjzo.com, featuresportraits of his former students and their families,

as well as images from his trip to central Africa withNicholas Kristof.


18/62

ViEwiNg guidE FOR RepoRteR

The following questions can be used to facilitate large- and small-group discussions, prompt reec-

tive writing, develop projects, and evaluate student understanding. They are meant to complement,

not replace, the questions raised by students themselves. Also, keep in mind that after exposure to newmaterial, the best questions are often the simplest: What have you just seen? What ideas strike you as

important or interesting? What questions does this material raise for you? What perspectives were rep-

resented? Which perspectives were left out or de-emphasized?

Pre-Viewing Questions

1. Mother Teresa, a nun amous or her work helping the poor, said, I I look at the mass, I will never

act. I I look at the one, I will. What do you think Mother Teresa meant by this statement? Do you

agree or disagree with her? Explain.

2. What is the news? Describe your habits related to the news. Where do you get the news? How

oten do you read, watch, or listen to the news? What stories interest you the most? Identiy a news

story you heard recently that got your attention. What about this story engaged you?

3. Write a job description or a reporter. What is a reporters job? What skills are required to do this

job well?

4. I you wanted to get people to care about an issue acing your community, how would you get them

to care? What inormation would be most likely to motivate people to do something to address this

issue?

5. What do you know about the Democratic Republic o Congo? How or where did you learn this

inormation? What do you know about Darur? How or where did you learn this inormation?

Viewing Questions

(Time codes indicate where you might pause the lm to reect on the question in writing or through

discussion.)

1. Who is Nicholas Kristo? What do we know about him? (6:30)

2. Journalism expert Tom Rosenstiel believes that travel is important to Kristos work as a reporter,

explaining, I think that bearing witness is a critical element o what makes some columns better

than others, and there are certain kinds o stories that need to have witness borne in person. It just

is more powerul to go there. What does it mean to bear witness? What responsibilities come

with bearing witness to an event or situation? (7:16)

ViEWinG GUiDE


19/62

TEACHinGREPORTER

3. Stephen Colbert asks Kristo, Why should we pay attention to the rest o the world? How would

you respond to this question? (14:03)

4. Describe the results o the Rokia study. What did Paul Slovic learn about the psychology o com-

passion rom this study? To what degree do these results represent your own experience? (16:31)

5. In the lm, Kristo says, Im outraged at what I see and I want it to stop, and I think one way you

can ght a militia is with UN peacekeepers with large guns. Another way you can ght them is

with small notebooks and pens. Respond to Kristos statement. To what extent can a journalist

help stop civil war and prevent human rights abuses, i at all? (22:40)

6. Describing his dilemma about whether or not to travel to a displacement camp outside o Goma,

Kristo explains, I want to get a good story but I dont want to put them [Leana and Will] at risk or

make them eel uncomortable. What are the risks involved in this mission? What advice would

you give to Kristo as he decides whether to go or turn back? What do you think he will decide to

do? What makes you think this? (30:54)

7. Kristo reveals that most o the time when he hears stories o rape and abuse, they dont really

bother him because he approaches these stories with proessional distance. How do you recon-

cile (make sense o) Kristos desire to rouse compassion in his readers and his own dispassionate

(unemotional) reaction to these stories? Is compassion something that can be turned on and o

like a switch? I so, what activates our sense o empathy? What turns it o? (36:25)

8. What is the dierence between the way Leana Wen responds to Yohanita and the way Nicholas

Kristo responds? Given that their purpose or being in this village is to nd a story, do you think

that the team o journalists should stop their reporting to try to save Yohanita? Why or why not?

(55:14)

9. How does General Nkunda explain how he came to have his position as leader o a rebel militia?

He calls himsel a liberator, while Kristo reers to him as a warlord. Which title is most appro-

priate or him? What does this exchange reveal about the power o language? (1:13:27)

10. What are your thoughts ater seeing Kristo interview child soldiers? What did the child soldiers do

to end up as Nkundas prisoners? I they are guilty o committing crimes, should they be punished

or their actions even though they are under the age o 18? Should we think o the actions o child

soldiers the same way we think about the actions o adult soldiers? Why or why not? (1:15:56)

11. At the end o the lm, the narrator says, The most recent statistic states that 5.4 million people

have died in Congo over the last decade as a result o the ongoing warare, and that 1.2 million

people are now displaced in eastern Congo alone. What does Kristo think needs to happen to end

the humanitarian disaster in Congo? Who do you think is responsible or helping the Congolese?

(1:28:15)


20/62

Post-Viewing Questions

1. Identiy an image rom the lm that was particularly powerul or you. What about this image

moved you? How did it make you eel? What questions does it raise or you?

2. Why do you think the lmmakers made this lm? What message (or messages) are they trying to

express? What do you notice about how the lmmakers shot the lm? What techniques did they

use to help communicate their message? What might you have done dierently i you were the

lmmaker?

3. Why do you think Kristo wanted to bring a college student and a teacher with him on a report-

ing trip to central Arica? Why bring a student and a teacher, as opposed to anyone in the general

public? What do you think o this decision? Would you want to travel with Kristo on a reporting

trip? Why or why not?

4. Kristo argues that the media does not pay enough attention to the problems in Congo and otherplaces around the world. Yet some people criticize him or only covering stories that involve human

misery (wars, disease, extreme poverty, etc.). What do you think o this critique o Kristos writ-

ing? Is his coverage unair to Congo? Why or why not?

5. Kristo assumes that it is important or people to know about what is happening on the other side

o the hill. Yet most o us only have a limited amount o time to read or watch the news. Where

do you think our attention should be ocusedon learning about places close to home or ar away,

or both? Explain your answer.

6. Nicholas Kristo is a columnist whose articles appear on an editorial page. His articles do not

appear in the news section o the paper. Does this distinction matter? Why or why not?

7. Identiy a challenge or dilemma Kristo conronts when writing his column. What do you think

about how he handles this situation?

8. Describe Kristos method or writing his column. What do you think o his writing method? What

aspects o it appeal to you? What aspects o it concern you? What tips about reporting do you take

away rom watching Reporter?

9. Kristo explains, I spent a lot o time trying to put various crises on the international map. Maybe

the most dicult to put there is Congo. What has made it so hard to bring attention to the devasta-

tion in Congo? What does this reveal about the way that news is reported and published? Would you

suggest any changes to the criteria that get a story on the ront page? I so, what would they be?

10. Kristo hopes that his writing galvanizes people to do something to make the world a better

place. Has reading a newspaper article or editorial ever roused you to take action? I so, why do

you think this article aected you? I not, why do you think this is the case? What has inspired

you to care about others?

ViEWinG GUiDE


21/62

TEACHinGREPORTER

11. When you eel an obligation to care or and protect someone, you include that person in your

universe o responsibility. Who does Kristo include in his universe o responsibility? What do

you know about Kristos identityhis values, background, and experiencesthat might have

infuenced how he denes his universe o responsibility? Who do you include in your universe o

responsibility? What has infuenced your choices about whom to include?


22/62

iNVESTigATiON ONE

Why dont people act? Confronting psychic numbing

The readings in this investigation have been selected to deepen our understanding of ideas presentedin chapters 3 and 4 (12:0519:56) of the documentary Reporter(approximately 8 minutes). In this clip,

Stephen Colbert asks his guest on The Colbert Report, Nicholas Kristof, Why should we pay attention

to the rest of the world? Kristof answers this question by referring to social science research about the

psychology of compassion and explains how he applies this knowledge when writing about the genocide

in Darfur.

Overview

According to the International Association o Genocide Scholars, in the twentieth century more people

have died rom genocide and mass murder than rom all wars.1 Ater each atrocity, men and women inthe international community cry Never again, but human rights abuses against innocent children,

women, and men continue. In his job as a reporter or the New York Times, Nicholas Kristo has been

able to see these human rights abuses rsthand, winning a Pulitzer Prize or bringing attention to

the genocide in Darur. Yet despite the attention Kristo and others have drawn to this humanitarian

disaster, the violence continues. Why is this the case?

Looking to history can help us address this question. In the 1940s, Jan Karski, a courier or the Pol-

ish resistance, publicized reports about Nazi atrocities to a mostly unbelieving audience. Ater the

war, he spoke o his attempts to alert people to the mass murder o European Jews, explaining, The

tragedy was that these testimonies were not believed. Not because o ill will, but simply because the

acts were beyond human imagination.2 During the Holocaust, many people did not intervene to stopthe genocide because they were not able to imagine the unimaginable. As Proessor Larry Langer

argues, Even with the evidence beore our eyes, we hesitate to accept the worst. *

In his editorial Save the Darur Puppy, Kristo provides another reason why many people do not

respond when conronted with inormation about genocide or humanitarian disasters. Drawing on

the work o Paul Slovic, a proessor who studies the psychology o compassion, Kristo explains that

the human conscience just isnt pricked by mass suering, while an individual child (or puppy)

in distress causes our hearts to futter.3 He reers to studies that demonstrate how people are more

likely to help one person, or even one animal, than they are to help hundreds o suering people.

This investigation includes that editorial as well as an excerpt rom the abstract** o Slovics study

on psychic numbing and genocide.

* The reading Is Knowledge Enough? (pages 367370) in Facing History and Ourselves: Holocaust and Human Behaviorprovides

more inormation about why people may have ignored or discounted inormation about Nazi atrocities during the Holocaust.

** An abstract is a brie summar y that highlights the main points o an academic study.

WHy DonT pEoplE ACT?


23/62

TEACHinGREPORTER

Both o these readings help us think about a concept called psychic numbing. Psychiatrist Robert

J. Liton* coined this term to reer to a general category o diminished capacity or inclination to

eel.4 Writing about the numbing o everyday lie, he explains, We are bombarded by all kinds o

images and infuences and we have to end some o them o i were to take in any o them, or to

carry through just our ordinary days work. . . .5 In her book High Tide in Tucson, novelist Barbara

Kingsolver arms Litons observation that people numb themselves to disturbing inormation:

Conronted with knowledge o dozens o apparently random disasters each day, what can

a human heart do but slam its doors? No mortal can grieve that much. We didnt evolve to

cope with tragedy on a global scale. Our deense is to pretend theres no thread o event

that connects us, and that those lives are somehow not precious and real like our own. Its a

practical strategy, to some ends, but the loss o empathy is also the loss o humanity, and thats

no small tradeo.6

Kingsolver writes about how the loss o empathy is also the loss o humanity: by closing themselves

o to caring or others, people can allow horrible crimes to occur.

It is possible to live in a twilight between knowing and not knowing.

It is possible to refuse full realization of facts because one feels

unable to face the implications of these facts.7

W. A. Vissert Hooft, a Dutch theologian, explaining why he and many others

discounted early accounts of Nazi crimes

While acknowledging the costs o psychic numbing, Liton also identies a benet: sometimes numb-

ing allows you to perorm a task that would be challenging i you were distracted by strong emotions.

He explains:

And yet, [psychic numbing] isnt all negative. For instance, I realize that i you take the exampleo a surgeon who is perorming a delicate operation, you dont want him or her to have the same

emotions as a amily member o that person being operated on. There has to be some level o

detachment where you bring your technical skill to bear on it.8

Supporting Litons argument, Kristo reveals how he experiences a degree o psychic numbing in his

own work as a journalist:

In a career [o] reporting I heard a lot o really wrenching stories about murder and rape and

everything else, and at this point, and see Im not really proud o it, I may be a little embarrassed

about it, [but] I can listen pretty dispassionately to the most inhuman stories. And they, most

o the time, dont, you know, really bother me. Maybe its that sort o clinical role o ao

a surgeon somewhere in [an] operating theater, but I can, you know, approach things normally

as a journalist and treat it with a certain amount o proessional distance.9

* Liton ound evidence o psychic numbing in the survivors o the atomic bomb at Hiroshima and in Nazi doctors who perormed

inhumane experiments on concentration camp pr isoners.


24/62


25/62

TEACHinGREPORTER

GideonMendel,Corbis.

The Rokia study demonstrates thatwhen people are shown a single humanface, they are more likely to donate thanwhen they are presented with statistics oreven the image of two victims.


26/62

Reading 2: Psychic Numbing and Genocide11

The following excerpt is from the abstract (summary) of a research paper written by Dr. Paul Slovic,

professor of psychology at the University of Oregon. It was published in the academic journal Judgment

and Decision Making(April 2007).

Most people are caring and will exert great eort to rescue individual victims whose needy

plight comes to their attention. These same good people, however, oten become numbly

indierent to the plight o individuals who are one o many in a much greater problem.

Why does this occur? The answer to this question will help us answer a related question

that is the topic o this paper: Why, over the past century, have good people repeatedly

ignored mass murder and genocide? . . .

My search to identiy a undamental deciency in human psychology that causes us to

ignore mass murder and genocide has led to a theoretical ramework that describes theimportance o emotions and eelings in guiding decision making and behavior. Perhaps the

most basic orm o eeling is aect, the sense (not necessarily conscious) that something

is good or bad. Aective responses occur rapidly and automaticallynote how quickly

you sense the eelings associated with the word treasure or the word hate. . . . One last

important psychological element in this story is attention. Just as eelings are necessary

or motivating helping, attention is necessary or eelings.

The behavioral theories and data conrm what keen observers o human behavior have

long known. Numerical representations o human lives do not necessarily convey the

importance o those lives. . . . The numbers are important, and yet they are not everything.

For whatever reasons, images oten strike us more powerully, more deeply than numbers.We seem unable to hold the emotions aroused by numbers or nearly as long as those o

images. We quickly grow numb to the acts and the math. Images seem to be the key to

conveying aect and meaning, though some imagery is more powerul than others.

Imagery

Attention

Feeling Helping

Probably the most important image to represent a human lie is that o a single human

ace. Journalist Paul Neville writes about the need to probe beneath the statistics o job-

lessness, homelessness, mental illness, and poverty in his home state o Oregon, in order

to discover the people behind the numberswho they are, what they look like, how they

Figure 1: Imagery and attention produce feelings that motivate helping behavior.



27/62

TEACHinGREPORTER0

sound, what they eel, what hopes and ears they harbor. He concludes: I dont know when

we became a nation o statistics. But I know that the path to becoming a nationand a com-

munityo people is remembering the aces behind the numbers (Neville, 2004). . . .

Perhaps there is hope that vivid, personalized media coverage o genocide could motivateintervention. Perhaps. But again we should look to research to assess these possibilities.

Numerous experiments have demonstrated the identiable victim eect which is also so

evident outside the laboratory. . . . Small, Loewenstein, and Slovic (2007) gave people leav-

ing a psychological experiment the opportunity to contribute up to $5 o their earnings to

Save the Children. The study consisted o three separate conditions: (1) identiable victim

[image], (2) statistical victims [acts], and (3) identiable victim with statistical inormation

[image + acts]. . . . Participants in each condition were told that any money donated will

go toward relieving the severe ood crisis in southern Arica and Ethiopia. The dona-

tions in act went to Save the Children, but they were earmarked specically or Rokia in

Conditions 1 and 3 and not specically earmarked in Condition 2. The average donations

are presented in Figure 2. Donations in response to the identied individual, Rokia, werear greater than donations in response to the statistical portrayal o the ood crisis. Most

important, however, and most discouraging, was the act that coupling the statistical reali-

ties with Rokias story signicantly reduced the contributions to Rokia. . . .

IDENTIFIABLE

WITH STATISTICS

STATISTICAL

LIFE

IDENTIFIABLE

LIFE

$0

$1.0

0

$2.0

0

DONATIONSINDOLLARS

Clearly there are political obstacles posing challenges to those who would consider inter-

vention in genocide, and physical risks as well. What I have tried to describe in this paper

are the ormidable psychological obstacles centered around the diculties in wrapping

our minds around genocide and orming the emotional connections to its victims that

are necessary to motivate us to overcome these other obstacles. . . . In this paper I have

drawn upon common observation and behavioral research to argue that we cannot depend

only upon our moral eelings to motivate us to take proper actions against genocide.

That places the burden o response squarely upon the shoulders o moral argument and

international law.

Figure 2: Mean donations when people are exposed to different information.12


28/62

Connections

1. What is empathy? What is compassion? When have you elt empathy and/or compassion or some-

thing or someone? What provoked this eeling in you? Did you do anything as a result?

2. What does universe o responsibility mean? What individuals and groups do you include in your

universe o responsibility? Why? How does your universe o responsibility infuence the choices

you make about how to treat others?

3. Philosopher John Ruskin said, What we think or what we know or what we believe is, in the end,

o little consequence. The only consequence is what we do. How might Nicholas Kristo respond

to Ruskins argument? What do you think o this statement?

4. Historian Leni Yahil divides knowledge into three parts: receipt o inormation, acknowledgment

o inormation, and action based on that inormation.13 How does Yahils division o knowledge

apply to the way people have responded to more recent humanitarian crises, such as the genocidein Darur? What do they think can be done, i anything, to move people rom receiving inorma-

tion to acting on that inormation? How would Nicholas Kristo and Paul Slovic answer this ques-

tion?

5. What is psychic numbing? Under what conditions is psychic numbing helpul? Under what con-

ditions is psychic numbing harmul? Identiy a time when you may have experienced psychic

numbingwhen you may have elt numb to disturbing inormation and images. Why do you

think you elt numb to this inormation? What could have been done, i anything, to get you to

pay thoughtul attention to this inormation?

6. According to researcher Paul Slovic, studies show that people are more likely to help one personthan many people. How do your observations and experiences support and/or reute Slovics

ndings? According to Paul Slovic and Nicholas Kristo, what galvanizes people to take action

on behal o others? Think about a time when you were motivated to help someone else. What

inspired these actions? Based on your own experiences and on research about human behavior,

what are ve possible ways to galvanize the public to take action on behal o others?

7. When suggesting what is needed to prevent genocide and mass murder, Nicholas Kristo writes,

[M]aybe what we need isnt better laws but more troubled consciences. On the other hand, Paul

Slovic argues that we cannot depend only upon our moral eelings to motivate us to take proper

actions against genocide. He recommends stronger international laws to prevent and stop large-

scale acts o violence. What is the relationship between compassion and law? How can empathy

(moral eelings) and laws be used together to prevent genocide?

8. What has motivated you to eel empathy or compassion or others? In her book High Tide in Tucson

(1996), Barbara Kingsolver highlights how art, especially storytelling, can be used to get people to

care about others. She writes:



29/62

TEACHinGREPORTER

The power o ction is to create empathy. It lits you away rom your chair and stus you gently

down inside someone elses point o view. . . . A newspaper could tell you that one hundred

people, say, in an airplane, or in Israel, or in Iraq, have died today. And you can think to yoursel,

How very sad, then turn the page and see how the Wildcats ared. But a novel could take just

one o those hundred lives and show you exactly how it elt to be that person rising rom bed

in the morning, watching the desert light on the tile o her doorway and on the curve o herdaughters cheek. You could taste that persons breakast, and love her amily, and sort through

her worries as your own, and know that a death in that household will be the end o the only

lie that someone will ever have. As important as yours. As important as mine. . . . Art is the

antidote that can call us back rom the edge o numbness, restoring the ability to eel or another. 14

To what extent do you agree with Kingsolvers statement? When has arta movie, play, story, song,

painting, etc.ever motivated you to eel compassion or someone else? Why do you think this

piece had this eect on you?

1. Gregory H. Stanton, About Genocide, International Association o Genocide Scholars, Genocide Watch, 2002,

http://www.genocidescholars.org/about.

2. Quoted in Macie Kozlowski, The Mission that Failed: A Polish Courier Who Tried to Help the Jews, in My Brothers Keeper?

Recent Polish Debates on the Holocaust, ed. Antony Polonsky (Routledge, 1990), 83.

3. Nicholas Kristo, Save the Dar ur Puppy, New York Times, May 10, 2007.

4. Robert J. Liton, The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology o Genocide (Basic Books, 1986), 442,

http://www.holocaust-history.org/liton/LitonT442.shtml.

5. Conversations with History, Robert Jay LitonInterview, Institute o International Studies, UC Berkeley, November 2, 1999,

http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people/Liton/liton-con3.html.

6. Barbara K ingsolver, High Tide in Tucson: Essays rom Now or Never (New York, Harper Perennial, 1996), 232.

7. Leni Yahil, Ina Friedman, and Haya Galai, The Holocaust: The Fate o European Jewry, 19321944 (Oxord University Press, 1991), 545.

8. Kreisler, Harry, Evil, the Sel, and Survival: Conversation with Robert Jay Liton, M.D., Institute o International Studies, UC

Berkeley, Nov. 2, 1999. http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people/Liton/liton-con3.html.

9. Reporter, (00:36:25).

10. Nicholas Kristo, Save t he Darur Puppy.

11. Paul Slovic, I I Look at the Mass I Will Never Act: Psychic Numbing and Genocide,Judgment and Decision Making, no. 2 (April

2007), http://journal.sjdm.org/7303a/jdm7303a.htm.

12. Chart in Slovic (2007), reprinted rom Small et al. (2007), with permission rom Elsevier.

13. Leni Yahil, Ina Friedman, and Haya Galai, The Holocaust, 544.

14. K ingsolver, High Tide in Tucson, 231232.


30/62

iNVESTigATiON TwO

Should reporters advocate? Exploring the role of journalists

The readings in this investigation have been selected to deepen our understanding of ideas presentedin chapters 10 through 13 (46:181:01:40) of the documentary Reporter(approximately 15 minutes). In

this clip, we are introduced to Yohanita, a dying Congolese woman who becomes the focus for Nicholas

Kristofs editorial A Student, a Teacher and a Glimpse of War. Where Kristof sees a subject for his

column about the victims of war in Congo, Leana Wen, a medical student, sees a patient in need of care.

Overview

In A Student, a Teacher and a Glimpse o War, Nicholas Kristo asks the reader, How can you walk

away rom a human being who will surely die i you do so? Why does he include this language in his

editorial? Speaking to journalism students, Kristo mentioned that the goal o his column is to makepeople spill their coee when they read it, then go volunteer or donate to help solve the problems he

writes about.1 Is this the role o a journalist? Should a reporter be in the business o advocacyo

attempting to infuence public policy and individual behavior?

In the interview excerpted below, Brooke Gladstone, host o the show On the Media, reers to Kristo

as an advocacy journalist. According to journalism proessor Robert Jensen,

The term advocacy journalism typically is used to describe the use o techniques to promote

a specic political or social cause. The term is potentially meaningul only in opposition to a

category o journalism that does not engage in advocacy, so-called objective journalism.2

But just what is meant by objective journalism? Brent Cunningham, editor o the Columbia Journal-

ism Review, presents the challenges o answering this question:

Ask ten journalists what objectivity means and youll get ten dierent answers. Some, like the

Washington Posts editor, Leonard Downie, dene it so strictly that they reuse to vote lest they be

orced to take sides. My avorite denition was rom Michael Bugeja, who teaches journalism at

Iowa State: Objectivity is seeing the world as it is, not how you wish it were.3

Communications proessor Richard Tafinger understands the desire or neutral or objective

reporting. He explains, Such objectivity can allow people to arrive at decisions about the world and

events occurring in it without the journalists subjective views infuencing the acceptance or rejection

o inormation.4

Kristo finches when Gladstone calls him an advocacy journalist. He worries that advocates are

perceived as somebody who goes out and nds evidence to buttress their preexisting convictions.

Advocacy journalist Sean Condon counters this concern by stressing the importance o accuracy.

You still have a responsibility to be telling the truth, he says, and i you sacrice that to advocate

sHoUlD rEporTErs ADVoCATE?


31/62

TEACHinGREPORTER

on behal o something, you might be doing more damage than help. 5 Kristo maintains a similar

approach to his writing. What I want to do is shine my light to illuminate that problem, he explains,

but I dont want to tinker with the evidence. I just want to galvanize people by showing them what

is out there.

Showing them what is out there, however, requires making choices about what to include and what toleave out. This is why Tafinger reers to objectivity in journalism as an unrealizable dream. 6 Robert

Jensen agrees with him. He argues:

All reporters use a ramework o analysis to understand the world and report on it. But reporting

containing open reerences to underlying political assumptions and conclusions seems to

engage in advocacy, while the more conventional approach appears neutral. . . . Accounts o the

world, including journalistic ones, must begin rom some assumptions about the way the world

works. None is neutral.7

I no reporting can be purely objective or neutral, then at what point does an article move rom news

reporting to advocacy? Where along this continuum would we place Kristo s work? How do we accountor the act that Kristo is a columnist whose articles appear on the opinion page o the paper? This

role may give him more leeway to advocate on behal o a cause than a traditional news reporter has, a

distinction that Rebecca Hamilton, a reporter or the Washington Post, points out. In her role as special

correspondent or Sudan, she explains, she is not an activist, even though she cares deeply about stop-

ping the violence in Darur. Beore becoming a reporter, Hamilton spent years working in Sudan and

the United States on behal o victims o the genocide in Darur. This experience gives her a unique

perspective on the role o a reporter. She explains:

As an activist, one o the most valuable tools in my arsenal was quality reporting rom those

who were perceived as objective. Whoever you are pushing knows you have an agenda and

sometimes can discount your claims because o that. Being able to point to objective reportingthat backs up your point is very powerul.

Thereore, Hamilton tries to keep her writing as objective as possible. She reers to an article she

wrote about the expulsion o aid workers in Sudan that was used by humanitarian organizations and

advocacy groups because it said things that these organizations were unable to say themselves. By

nding hard-to-get perspectives and delivering this inormation to a broad audience, Hamilton eels

she can use her position to help the people in Darur.

On so many of the issues that I care deeply about, the reason that theyre not

being addressed is simply because theyre not on the agenda. And shining a

spotlight and making people uncomfortable about what they see in that

spotlight, I think, truly is the rst step toward getting more resources and

more attention and more energy dedicated to solving them. 8

Nicholas Kristof

Reading Kristos columns and learning about his method o storytelling gives us the opportunity to

get to know one model or how journalists can use their role to conront violence and injustice around


32/62


33/62


34/62

Reading 4:On the Media10

The following is an excerpt from Brooke Gladstones interview with Nicholas Kristof on the public radio

program On the Media (December 2009).

BROOKE GLADSTONE: So you wrote in Outside Magazine recently that you had a revelation

when it came to covering Darur in 2004, but it was coming back that opened your eyes to

coverage o Pale Male.

NICHOLAS KRISTOF: Thats right. At the same time that I was so rustrated by the lack o

response to genocide, I ound a cause that New Yorkers really could rally around, and that

was the eviction o a red-tailed hawk called Pale Male. The building in which he was living

had taken down his nest, and New Yorkers were galvanized. And I was just thinking, you

know, i only we could get as much indignation and action to prevent genocide as we could

about a homeless red-tailed hawk. And that kind o got me thinking about how one canmake that connection.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: And so you looked at some recent research about what moves us,

inormation thats a big part o marketing.

NICHOLAS KRISTOF: Well, I came across social psychologist Paul Slovic, who has done a

great deal o work in this area, and the experiments typically involve exposing people to a

particular scenario and then seeing i they will contribute. One o the classic experiments in-

volves a seven-year-old girl rom the country o Mali whos starving and asking i people will

help her out. Everybody wants to help Rokia. But i you ask people to help 21 million hungry

people in Arica, nobody particularly wants to help them. Maybe what I ound even moredepressing is that the moment you even provide more background inormation [on] Rokia,

i you say that she is hungry because o a amine in her country, then interest in helping her

tends to drop. You know, we all know that at some point people tend to get numbed and tune

out, but one o the things that I ound ascinating was the number at which we tend to tune

out. Its not a million, its not a thousand, its not even a hundredits two.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Two! It was just amazing to me to read that. Youve got starving little

Rokia. You add her starving brother, and people are less likely to support.

NICHOLAS KRISTOF: Thats right. Even though people are very generous in supporting

either Rokia or the boy, Moussa, the moment you put them together, theyre less willing

to help just two seven-year-old kids. And, you know, so the moment we start talking about

hundreds o thousands, peoples eyes just glaze over. . . .

BROOKE GLADSTONE: How do you nesse a story that might not end happily? Because,



35/62

TEACHinGREPORTER

obviously, youre an advocacy journalist; you report not just to report but to spur action. . . .

So youve been writing that these sorts o rulesan emphasis on individuals rather than

groups, not worrying so much about context, putting the spotlight on positive storiesthat

these are being heeded by companies trying to sell soap more than they are by philanthropic

organizations.

NICHOLAS KRISTOF: You know, at the end o the day I think humanitarians really eel very

awkward and embarrassed about marketing, but it really doesnt matter whether a shampoo

gets better marketing. It does matter when a amine or a huge crisis iswell, I hate to use the

[term] marketed better, but, you know, is publicized in a way that will be more eective.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Have you seen a product with no social signicance be marketed

according to these rules?

NICHOLAS KRISTOF: Sure. I mean, any time you see a shampoo, or example, being mar-

keted, its not based on the act that, you know, 38 percent o adults have shinier hair whenthey use this product. Its about, you know, one particular person whowow, she looks

better and shes going to get a better date or whatever it may be. Its these individual stories

that eel kind o empowering and heartwarming. I mean, one o the challenges or me,

rankly, is that i you ollow this research, then you would leave out context. All you would

do would be telling individual stories, and that would be one step too ar or me. I do want

to connect with people and inorm them about these larger problems. So my compromise

is that I do try to nd a story that will resonate with people. But then at that point I try to

throw in the larger context, the background inormation, and make it clear, in the case o the

Congo, or example, how many millions o people are aected and hope that doesnt deter

the power o that individual story. . . .

BROOKE GLADSTONE: You said that you finch when you get called an advocacy journalist,

but when you sit down to write a column, what is it that youre trying to achieve?

NICHOLAS KRISTOF: Yeah. Well, Im advocating. But Im reluctant to be called out on it.

My career was as a reporter, and theres an uncomortable tension there, because one o the

reasons that I became a journalist is, rankly, that I wanted to make a dierence. And yet, at

the same time, there is sometimes a perception that an advocate is somebody who goes out

and nds evidence to buttress their preexisting convictions. And thats why I finch.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: But you can tell the truth and still want to spark a particular action.

NICHOLAS KRISTOF: Yes, absolutely. That is one o the great perks o journalism, that there

are a lot o problems in the world and that we carry a spotlight. What I want to do is shine

my light to illuminate that problem, but I dont want to tinker with the evidence. I just want

to galvanize people by showing them what is out there.


36/62

Connections

1. I you had the opportunity to interview Nicholas Kristo, what would you want to ask him?

2. Handbook or Citizen Journalists denes advocacy journalism as a genre o journalism that adoptsa viewpoint or the sake o advocating on behal o a social, political, business, or religious pur-

pose. It is journalism with an intentional and transparent bias. 11 Based on this denition, what is

the dierence, i anything, between advocacy journalism and propaganda?

3. What does the phrase objective reporting mean to you? Communications proessor Richard

Tafinger argues that that objectivity is an unrealizable dream. Do you agree with him? Why or

why not?

4. Brooke Gladstone reers to Kristo as an advocacy journalist. Where, i at all, do you see examples

o advocacy in the editorial A Student, a Teacher and a Glimpse o War? What is Kristo advocat-

ing? In her article Does Caring Require Advocacy in Journalism?, journalist Elecia Chrunikprovides some warnings to writers and readers regarding advocacy journalism:

There can be negative consequences to advocacy journalism, like any orm o journalism, when

it is not done responsibly. . . . Becoming involved with a cause blurs the lines o a journalists

duties and responsibilities. The public might have a dicult time accepting and trusting that

journalists are both promoters and truth-tellers. And there are many ways that a journalist can

abuse his or her power i he or she eels that the ends justiy the means.12

What arguments does Chrunik make about advocacy journalism? How might Kristo respond to

these arguments?

5. Nicholas Kristo is a columnist; his job is to write opinion pieces that appear on the editorial page.

Does this role give him permission to use his articles to advocate or certain policies and behav-

iors? Why or why not? Why do you think newspapers include opinion pages? What do you think

qualies someone to express an opinion in a newspaper?

6. Kristo said, We finch at the idea o marketing a cause. . .[b]ut it could matter tremendously i

we could get people to care about, say, malaria.13 What is the dierence, i any, between market-

ing aimed at consumer goods, such as soda or shampoo, and marketing aimed at getting people

to care about social issues? What strategies do advertisers use to make products attractive to

buyers? Which o these techniques, i any, are appropriate or activists to use to promote a social

or political issue?

7. To nd an individual whose story, in essence, will inspire the most outrage in his readers over

breakast, Reporterlmmaker Eric Metzgar says that Kristo oten talks to 50 to 100 people a day.

Here is how Metzgar describes nding Yohanita, the subject o the editorial A Student, a Teacher

and a Glimpse o War:



37/62

TEACHinGREPORTER0

When we ound her, Nick had sort o ound his Rokia. . . . This is the woman who is going

to represent the crisis in Congo. Because he had disregarded a ew hundred peoples terrible

stories and he really ound the one that, even to the crew and everyone around, crushed us

the most, devastated us the most. But also, the way that. . .Nick told it in his column, it really

inspired you the most. And it told the story politically o what was happening in the area. Thats

important, too.

How did the story o Yohanita impact you? What eelings and ideas did it spark or you? What

does the story o Yohanita reveal about conditions in Congo? About three weeks ater the New York

Times published A Student, a Teacher and a Glimpse o War, Yohanita died rom an inection

she had when she was brought to the hospital. How does your response to this column change, i

at all, knowing that Yohanita did not survive?

8. What is the greater goal o journalism? Filmmaker Eric Metzgar asked this question when travel-

ing in Congo with Kristo to produce the Reporterdocumentary. In an interview about his experi-

ence making this lm, Metzgar describes the tension between writing about suering and inter-

vening to end the suering:

Journalism exists because everyone cant be there to witness it. Right? So weve designated these

ew people about whom we say, Theyre not going to help out. Theyre not going to intervene.

Theyre simply going to watch and tell people who dont know about it. And thats a strange

reality when youre there. To wake up and read the newspaper or read it online is one thing. But

when youre there, the idea that you should simply document the story is very strange.14

Metzgar says that Kristo probably would not have intervened to get Yohanita to the hospital i

Leana Wen, the medical student, had not been on the trip with him. What do you think about

Kristos decision to intervene in this instance? Is this part o his job as a reporter? Is it part o his

responsibility as a human being? How do you think journalists should respond to human suer-ing beore their eyes when they are reporting?

1. Stig Arlid Pettersen, Nic Kristo: Balancing t he Fine Line Between Journalism and Advocacy, The Morningside Post at

Columbia University, April 14, 2010,

http://themorningsidepost.com/2010/04/nic-kristo-balancing-the-ine-line-between-journalism-and-advocacy .

2. Robert Jensen, Advocacy Journalism, in The International Encyclopedia o Communication, ed. Wolgang Donsbach,

(Hoboken, NJ, Blackwell Publishing, 2008).

3. Brent Cunningham, Re-thinking Objectivity, Colombia Journalism Review (April 16, 2006), http://www.rdillman.com/Dillman/

Courses/COMCommon/articles/news/Re-thinking%20Objectivity.pd.

4. Richard F. Tafinger, The Myth o Objectivity in Journalism: A Commentary, May 29, 1996, http://www.wsu.edu/~talinge/

mythobj.html.

5. Elecia Chruni k, Does Caring Require Advocacy in Journalism?, Center or Journalism Ethics, June 16, 2008,

http://www.journalismethics.ca/eature_articles/does_caring_require_advocay.html.

6. Richard F. Tafinger, The Myth o Objectivity in Journa lism: A Commentary.


38/62

7. Robert Jensen, Beyond Advocacy v. Objective Journalism: Who Is Really Objective?, MediaBite (Ireland), July 3, 2007,

http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~rjensen/reelance/beyondadvocacy.htm.

8. Nicholas Kristo on Journalism & Compassion, Krista Tippet on Being, September 23, 2010,

http://being.publicradio.org/programs/2010/journalism-and-compassion/transcript.shtml.

9. Nicholas Kristo, A Student, a Teacher and a Glimpse o War, New York Times, June 21, 2007.

10. Follow or Now, Interview with Nick Kristo, On the Media, WNYC, December 11, 2009,

http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2009/12/11/03.

11. Jack Driscoll, Handbook or Citizen Journalists: Catching the Journalistic Attitude, May 11, 2010, (e-book available rom

http://www.citizenjournalistnow.com).

12. Elecia Chrunik , Does Caring Require Advocacy in Journalism?

13. Stig Arlid Pettersen, Nic Kristo: Balancing the Fine Between Journalism and Accuracy.

14. Transcript: Caring About Congo, NOW on PBS, February 12, 2010, http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/607/transcript.html.



39/62

iNVESTigATiON ThREE

What do we learn from the news? How reporters choices shape our

understanding of the world

The readings in this investigation have been selected to deepen our understanding of the ideas presented

in chapters 13 through 17 (1:01:401:19:3

teaching reporter

Documents